Châtenay-Malabry (FR - 92290), 29 December 2014


EFITA newsletter / 676 - European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment



To correspond with me (GW), please use this address: guy.waksman(a)laposte.net

Heating up private farm research to make you really hot profits - The Agribusiness Council of Australia Ltd is a Not-For-Profit company limited by guarantee (ABN 84 161 544 976)
8-9 January 2015 - MURESK, WA 6401, Australia
A 2-day conference presenting future directions for private research and development strategies for farming and agribusiness. Leading private R&D providers will present their outlooks, and strategy sessions will look at the entire Ag+sector innovation pipeline, with a focus on profit maximisation (to return private benefits to buyers of R&D).

>>> Forum Topics
- Principles for reform of Agricultural Research and Development Sector (Ag+R&D)
- "How to" best buy private benefits for your farm (i.e. private Ag+R&D).
- "How to" best develop the private Ag&R&D sector (i.e. Private Sector Ag+R&D)
- "How to" best engage with the existing system (i.e. Public Sector Ag+R&D)

>>> Speakers
- Grant Borglund, CEO, Rural Liquid Fertilisers
- Peter Burgess, CEO, Kalyx Agriculture
- Neil Delroy, Owner, Agribusiness Research and Management
- Frank D'Emden, Precision Agronomics Australia
- Danielle England, Owner, Ag-Innovate
“Innovation in Agriculture” Danielle England will speak about innovation, the importance of innovation in agriculture, and the need for networks to enable innovation to happen.
- Alan Fisher, President, Farm Machinery & Industry Association
- John Kargotich, Former United Nations Development Agency
- Tim Lester, COO, Council of Rural Research & Development Corporations
- Peter Keating, Owner, Bioscience WA
- Stewart McConachy, National Sales, Austracker & Aglive Pty Ltd
- Paul McKenzie, iCrop Australia
- Josh Portlock, Owner Sci-Aero
- Tony Seabrook, President, Pastoralists & Grazier's Association
- Tony York, Vice-President, WAFarmers
- Dr Hayden Sprigg, Farmer, Bonnie Rock
- Dr Fiona Brayshaw, Wheatbelt NRM
- John Hassell, Director AgCouncil, CBH, APVMA, Farmer Pingelly

>>> Game Changing Innovation Demonstrations
- GPS enabled, stabilised camera, drone demo to find lost stock....at night?
- On-line interactive presentations and surveys; bring your smart Internet devices.
- Join Online Group addressing this subject on an ongoing basis here: Private Ag+R&D Group [In - conference surveys conducted via this group].

>>> Unique Event Features
- Rewards for any valuable contribution you make in form of member's "Growing Points"
- Evening sessions...bring your best solutions and best networking skills
- Unique method to ensure non-partisan approach to proceedings
- Late night pool party, BBQ and chin wag.
See: http://www.agriculture.org.au/event/PrivateResearchConference

Dryland Farming in Texas
(…) A typical dryland planting schedule might involve a three-year cycle producing two crops.
- Wheat, for instance, could be planted around October 1 of year one and harvested in July of year two.
- The land then remains fallow until June of year three, when sorghum or cotton is planted and harvested in November. Once this is harvested, the land again remains fallow until the following October 1, when the cycle repeats.
- As long as the land remains mulched in fallow periods, it can retain moisture and nutrients.
(…)
See: http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/water/gamechangers/dryland.php


Finally, a little positive press in the WSJ about cattle…
Actually, Raising Beef Is Good for the Planet. Despite environmentalists’ worries, cattle don’t guzzle water or cause hunger—and can help fight climate change
By Nicolette HAHN NIMAN
People who advocate eating less beef often argue that producing it hurts the environment. Cattle, we are told, have an outsize ecological footprint: They guzzle water, trample plants and soils, and consume precious grains that should be nourishing hungry humans. Lately, critics have blamed bovine burps, flatulence and even breath for climate change.
As a longtime vegetarian and environmental lawyer, I once bought into these claims. But now, after more than a decade of living and working in the business—my husband, Bill, founded Niman Ranch but left the company in 2007, and we now have a grass-fed beef company—I’ve come to the opposite view. It isn’t just that the alarm over the environmental effects of beef are overstated. It’s that raising beef cattle, especially on grass, is an environmental gain for the planet.
Let’s start with climate change. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, all of U.S. agriculture accounts for just 8% of our greenhouse emissions, with by far the largest share owing to soil management—that is, crop farming. A Union of Concerned Scientists report concluded that about 2% of U.S. greenhouse gases can be linked to cattle and that good management would diminish it further. The primary concern is methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
But methane from cattle, now under vigorous study by agricultural colleges around the world, can be mitigated in several ways. Australian research shows that certain nutritional supplements can cut methane from cattle by half. Things as intuitive as good pasture management and as obscure as robust dung beetle populations have all been shown to reduce methane.
At the same time, cattle are key to the world’s most promising strategy to counter global warming: restoring carbon to the soil. One-tenth of all human-caused carbon emissions since 1850 have come from soil, according to ecologist Richard Houghton of the Woods Hole Research Center. This is due to tillage, which releases carbon and strips the earth of protective vegetation, and to farming practices that fail to return nutrients and organic matter to the earth. Plant-covered land that is never plowed is ideal for recapturing carbon through photosynthesis and for holding it in stable forms.
Most of the world’s beef cattle are raised on grass. Their pruning mouths stimulate vegetative growth as their trampling hoofs and digestive tracts foster seed germination and nutrient recycling. These beneficial disturbances, like those once caused by wild grazing herds, prevent the encroachment of woody shrubs and are necessary for the functioning of grassland ecosystems.
Research by the Soil Association in the U.K. shows that if cattle are raised primarily on grass and if good farming practices are followed, enough carbon could be sequestered to offset the methane emissions of all U.K. beef cattle and half its dairy herd. Similarly, in the U.S., the Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that as much as 2% of all greenhouse gases (slightly less than what’s attributed to cattle) could be eliminated by sequestering carbon in the soils of grazing operations.
Grass is also one of the best ways to generate and safeguard soil and to protect water. Grass blades shield soil from erosive wind and water, while its roots form a mat that holds soil and water in place. Soil experts have found that erosion rates from conventionally tilled agricultural fields average one to two orders of magnitude greater than erosion under native vegetation, such as what’s typically found on well-managed grazing lands.
Nor are cattle voracious consumers of water. Some environmental critics of cattle assert that 2,500 gallons of water are required for every pound of beef. But this figure (or the even higher ones often cited by advocates of veganism) are based on the most water-intensive situations. Research at the University of California, Davis, shows that producing a typical pound of U.S. beef takes about 441 gallons of water per pound—only slightly more water than for a pound of rice—and beef is far more nutritious.
Eating beef also stands accused of aggravating world hunger. This is ironic since a billion of the world’s poorest people depend on livestock. Most of the world’s cattle live on land that cannot be used for crop cultivation, and in the U.S., 85% of the land grazed by cattle cannot be farmed, according to the U.S. Beef Board.
The bovine’s most striking attribute is that it can live on a simple diet of grass, which it forages for itself. And for protecting land, water, soil and climate, there is nothing better than dense grass. As we consider the long-term prospects for feeding the human race, cattle will rightly remain an essential element.
—Ms. Hahn Niman is the author of “Defending Beef: The Case for Sustainable Meat Production” (Chelsea Green), from which this is adapted.
See: http://www.wsj.com/
articles/actually-raising-beef-is-good-for-the-planet-1419030738


Commodity Darwinism: Demographics, increasing population and wealth all promise to make commodity prices rise once again in future years - survive the downturn, strengthen your positions and stand
See: http://seekingalpha.com/article/2771345-commodity-darwinism-strong-hands-emerge


Russia's Collapse in 5 Stats
See: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/russias-collapse-5-stats-ian-bremmer


Putin Cancels New Year's Holiday for Government Workers
See: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/12/putin-cancels-new-years-holiday-for-government-workers/384055/

The archives of this newsletter
See: http://www.informatique-agricole.org/category/gazette-efita/


Jokes, Quotes and Anecdotes... an Anatomy of Wit
Mick Harkin, ex Secretary of EFITA, who has kept us amused with his Friday Jokes over the years, has published a book on Amazon entitled "Jokes, Quotes and Anecdotes... an Anatomy of Wit".
See: http://www.jokesquotesandanecdotes.com
Contact: Mick HARKIN
E-mail: harkin(a)iol.ie

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